Closure cap and package



y 1961 G. F. CHAPLIN 2,982,433

CLOSURE CAP AND PACKAGE Filed July 22, 1954 INVENTOR.

CLOSURE CAP PACKAGE George F. Chaplin, Elmwood Park, 11]., assignor, bymesne assignments, to Continental Can Company, Inc., New York,,rN .Y.,a, orp ration of: New Yo Filed July 22,1954, Ser. No. 444,980

The present inventionghas to do with closure caps for use in hermeticlly sealing, umble s, j rs, bottle nd the like.

The object of the invention is to, provide an improved closure cap whichis so constructed as to withstand comparatively high blowing pressureswithin the tumbler or other container towhi'ch the cap is applied, whichcan be applied, removed and reapplied with ease, and which willeffectively compensate for irregularities in the size or shape of thesealing surface of the container with which the, cap coacts.

While the foregoing statements ,areindicative in a general way of thenature of the invention, other more p ific o j cts and advantages. willb pp re t those skilled in the art upon afull understanding of theconstruction of th impro ed ap an th manner in. whi h it coasts with thes alingsnrface of. the ontain r.

A P e r etn'b dim of the inven i n ,is presented h n y way ofexemplificat on ntit i l of. c urs be app h t the invention is su cepible of. incorpora ion in ther s ct ral y mod fied. o ms comi q y in thscopeet the appended claima In he accompa v ngd anina Fig, 1 is afragmentaryside Niew of a beaded tumbler to which a cap constructed inaccordance with the invention has been applied;

Fig. 2 is. anenlarged radial sectiontthroush one side of the cap priorto its application; and

Fig. 3 is a similar section through the cap and through he, aded rim of.thetumbler, showing the cap sealed onxthe'tumbler. V 7

As will observed in the. dr wing, a r e i y sea ed. package..1.Q..-prodnc.ed by the pp n of peci lly cons rnetedcan 11.to,.a beadedtumbler 12. Whilebe decttnnt ersareotconrse in, and of themselves very.ol nthearta -ewandintnr vedtuse for'the-bead 13 on the tumbler, p I inwhich the cap cooperates with thebead. p t The-'5 cap- 11,.. "whichisadapted' to beapplied to the tumbler 12 or other container by beingpressed downwardly onto the same, includes a shell 14, preferably ofthin sheet metal, which is characterized by a circular top panel portion15 and a downwardly extending circular skirt portion 16. The cap alsoincludes a circular sleeve gasket 17 of resiliently deformablerubber-like sealing material, which gasket is of vertically elongated,generally rectangular radial section.

The skirt portion 16 of the shell is provided with a short downwardlyextending wall section 18 which is but slightly larger in diameter thanthe crest 19 of the bead 13 on the container and terminatessubstantially even with the crest 19 of the head when the cap is appliedto the container. The skirt portion of the shell is provided,immediately below the wall section 18, with an outwardly offsetdownwardly facing annular shoulder 20, which shoulder is of slightlyless radial extent than the thickness of the gasket 17 when the latteris compressed. From the outer edge of the shoulder 20 the skirt portionof the Un t d St t Patent 0 1, 2,982,433 Patented. May 2, 1961 ice shellis providedv with a downwardly extending wall section 21, preferably ofsubstantially cylindrical form, be tween which and the head 19. on thecontainer the gasket 17 is adapted to be compressed to seal the cap onthe container, and from the lower edge of this cylindrical wall section21 the skirt portion is provided with a down Wardly and outwardlyflaring wall section 22. The lower extremity 23 of the flared wallsection 22 is of consider.-

ably larger diameter than the bead 13 on the container and is curledinwardly and upwardly into tightly gripped engagement with the loweredge 24 of the gasket 17;

Before being assembled with the shell 14 the. gasket17 gasket spacedinwardly a substantial distancefrom the a cylindrical wall section 21 ofthe skirt portion, all as shown in Fig. 2. 1

The height of the gasket 17 is such that when the gasket iscircumferentially constricted and its lower edge is locked in positionin the lowermost wall section 22 of the skirt portion, as-previouslydescribed, the upper edge 26 of the gasket, will just clear thedownwardly facing annular shoulder 20 when the upper portion 25 of thgasket flexed ou wa d y, a shown n dotted.

in Fig. 2, thus permitting the upper portion 25 of the gasket to passbeneath the shoulder 20 and assume a cylindrical shape in flatwiseengagement with the wall sec tion 21. t t

When the gasket 17 initially engages with the bead 13 onthecontainerduring the application of the cap tothe on ai er t e bea 13 w ll firstfl xtb pp P i of the gasketpoutwardly, aboutthe. rounded junction 27between the wall sections 21 and 22 of the shell portion, intoenagementwith the wallsection 21, withfthe upper edge 26 of theoutwardly flexed upper portion 25 of the gasket at the commencement ofsuch, application spaced slightly below the shouldetlll- When the cap isthen forcibly pressed down on the container th fi lgagement of the crest19 of the, head with the upper portion 25 of the gasket. willfirstexertan np dn ll. on the lo ked-in g s which il simultaneously elongateand, compress the upper portion 25 o hesante until heuppe e ge 26 of thke s li abuts with th shou der 20, ter w ch-t excess niarin i t e. potion Q theeas s t p c et d. be weentbs crest '19 of the bead, theshoulder 20-and the wall section 21 will be redistributed downwardly toproduce an inwardly bulging formation 28 in engagement with theunderside of the bead 13 below the crest 19 of the bead. It will benoted that the cylindrical wall section 21 of the skirt portion extendsdownwardly to a point well below the crest 19 of the bead on thecontainer, and preferably below the underside of the bead, whichextension acts to direct the formation 28 inwardly against at least aportion of the underside of the bead.

The formation 28, which both frictionally engages and seals with thebead 13, substantially increases the area of contact of the gasket withthe sealing surface of the container. Because of the fact that theformation 28 is formed however in a locked down and preliminarilytensioned section of the gasket it will not tend to wad up or bucklebeneath the bead 13 when sufiicient pressure is applied to the rim ofthe cap to remove the latter but will. further compress and cleanly rideup over the bead 13.

The shoulder 20, by stopping and in effect reversing the upward flow ofthe material of the gasket 17 at substantially the crest 19 of the bead,prevents any appreciable amount of the material from rising above whatmight be called the equatorial zone, where it might act downwardly onthe bead, and accurately controls the gasket by confining the action ofthe same to only the crest of the bead and that portion of the beadwhich is immediately below the crest. The presence of the shoulder 20 inaddition assures a uniform compaction of the upper portion 25 of thegasket about the entire circumference of the container.

The skirt portion 14 of the shell of the cap is resiliently deformableto a degree, with the result that the cylindrical wall section 21 of theskirt portion, which confines the gasket 17 about the head 13 on the"container, can expand slightly under radial pressure to accommodateoversize containers or oversize gaskets and can also conform toout-of-round sealing finishes.

Caps of the press-on type are ordinarily applied auto- -rnatically tocontainers by machines which first place the caps in more or less tiltedpositions on the tops of the containers, with the result that theleading and trailing sides of the gaskets in the caps are subjected todifierent actions, with the trailing side subjected to an arcuatedrawing down action about a pivot point located at the leading side,resulting all too frequently in an excessive vertical elongation orstretch of the trailing side of the gasket. With the present cap thedownwardly facing shoulder 20 effectively controls the gasket andprevents any undesired elongation of the trailing side of the same whilethat side is being pulled down in bringing the cap into a horizontalposition. The inwardly jutting small diameter wall section 18 above theshoulder 20 will at the same time prevent any crushing or packing downof the upper edge of the leading side of the gasket, since the wallsection 18 presents a gauge-like stop which is so positioned withrespect to the upper edge of the gasket as to prevent the head 13 fromgetting above the upper edge of the leading side of the gasket.

While the lowermost wall section 22 of the skirt portion of the shell ispreferably conically shaped, as shown and described, it may instead bedifferently shaped without affecting the shape of the gasket, as bybeing abrupt- 1y offset outwardly below the sealing wall section 21, theimportant thing being that it not interfere with the outward flexing ofthe gasket about the junction 27 between the wall sections 21 and 22,also that the lower extremity 23 of the wall section 22 be substantiallylarger in diameter than the bead 13 or other finish on the container,whereby to clear the bead, provide a selfcentering throat for theentrance of the latter and allow suificient space for the creation ofthe formation 28.

A The improved cap has been shown and described in conjunction with abeaded tumbler, but the novel gasket control efiected by the cap is alsoapplicable to scaling 4 I finishes of other shapes, including plainfinishes. In the case of the latter the shoulder 20 will not only act tolimit the upward deformation of the tensioned gasket at all points aboutthe circumference of the sealing finish but will uniformly redistributethe material of the gasket downwardly into the previously tensionedlower portion of the same, thereby materiallyi lengthening the sealingarea, with added frictional retention. The cap provides an effectivehermetic seal and can be repeatedly removed and resealed.

I claim:

In a hermetically sealed package which includes a container having aperipheral bead about its rim, a closure cap for coaction with saidbead, which cap includes a shell having a circular top panel-portion, adownwardly extending circular wall portion of but slightly greaterdiameter than the crest of the head on the container, which wall portionterminates at its lower end substantially opposite the crest of saidbead when the cap is in its sealed position on the container, adownwardly fac ing annular shoulder disposed at the lower edge of saidwall portion outwardly of the latter, a second circular wall portion oflarger diameter than the first, which second wall portion extendsdownwardly from the outer edge of said shoulder, and a third wallportion of still larger diameter which extends downwardly from the lowerend of the second wall portion and terminates at the bottom of the shellin an inwardly curled rim, and a circular sleeve gasket of resilientlydeformable sealing material which is nested within the shell and issecured at its lower edge only to the shell by said inwardly curled rim,said gasket before application of the cap to the container being of aradial thickness greater than the space present between .the crest ofthe bead on the container and said second wall portion and beingdisposed when the cap is in its sealed position with its upper endconfined under radial compression within said space in vertical endwiseabutment with said downwardly facing shoulder, with the portion of thegasket immediately below the crest of the bead on the containerthickened by reason of the radial compression of its upper confined endinto frictional engagement with said head immediately below the crest ofthe latter.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

